WITH high demand for IT jobs in the city and the Middle East, Hyderabad has become the hub for job frauds and online employment scams. While well-educated scamsters are duping unemployed graduates of lakhs of rupees by promising jobs in top IT companies, con men in the old city are taking Muslims youths for a ride by assuring them jobs in the Middle East. From just one case of defrauding job-seekers in 2012, the number of job scams rose to 21 in 2013. This year, seven cases have been registered already.

On January 15, Central Crime Station officers arrested the CEO of a job consultancy in Ameerpet. The accused, V Chandrasekhar, collected close to Rs 30 lakh from 19 persons promising them jobs in Bahrain. He convinced them to pay “consultation and processing fee” after arranging fake telephonic interviews with his friend living in London. “They are all innocent youths desperate to get a job. Once they paid the money, Chandrasekhar started avoiding them and stopped answering their calls,’’ inspector P Raju said. Of the 19 victims, 10 are Muslim youths from poor families who apparently borrowed money or mortgaged family jewellery.

Cyber Crime and CCS officials say tfraudsters are not only using employment websites but are also openly posting job offers on websites like OLX and Quikr, besides shopping websites. Also under police